The first set of protocols for determining energy savings from energy efficiency measures and programs were published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in April 2013. Funded by the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the developed protocols provide a straightforward method for evaluating gross energy savings for each of the most common residential and commercial measures and programs offered by ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs in the United States.

Using a single measurement and verification protocol to calculate the energy savings from a particular measure or program will increase the credibility of the reported savings. This increased credibility will give electric utilities, their regulators, and other stakeholders a greater level of confidence about reported savings and reduce the risks of using energy efficiency as an electricity resource.

Feedback

Please provide feedback on any of the protocols below to ump.protocols@nrel.gov. In addition, feedback is welcome on the following:

Protocols that need updating

Protocols for new measures or programs

Changes to the format of the protocols

Additional information the protocols should contain.

Overview

The following provides the fundamentals and background of the protocols below, which are organized by general topics.

Cross-Cutting

These crosscutting topics are referenced in measure-specific protocols and are not efficiency measures. These supplemental discussions help extend the measure-specific method for determination of savings to evaluating whole programs.